"Et tu, Portas?" Those were the words which entered my mind when I read the extracts from Mary Portas' latest interview with Heat magazine. In it, she apparently calls women of the Cabinet an "ugly bunch", taking them to task on their clothing and suggesting she would "put a bit of sex and glamour" in their wardrobes if allowed.

I'm not really sure when Portas turned into Gok Wan, the man who 'saves' women from themselves by making them parade near-naked in front of strangers, a horrifying exercise which I find patronising and manipulative. One minute she's telling the Guardian's Jess Cartner-Morley that it's "ridiculous" that so few designers cater for women over 40 (hear hear!), the next she's wondering why our female politicians don't have the "wow" factor, like French MPs. Portas also apparently says that if she was PM she would restyle all the female MPs, something which brings an amusing image of David Cameron attempting to talk some fashion sense into Baroness Warsi but which, I feel, would hardly help the Tory party's women problem.

Firstly, there's little point in rehashing the "but Boris Johnson gets away with looking like he slept in a bin, so why can't Teresa May wear a dodgy coat?" argument. We all know the playing field isn't level when it comes to men, women and their appearances, and the list of injustices in this department is very, very long.

Portas' representatives have told the Guardian that her comments in Heat were "firmly tongue in cheek and again made in very much a lighthearted way, as is the nature of (Heat) magazine". The intention may have been lighthearted, but I think the most disappointing thing about Portas' comments is that it plays up the stereotype that people in the world of fashion are elitist, and that this reinforcement of the style-snob image has come from someone on a self-proclaimed mission to end the fashion drought for women of a certain age.

That this snobbery should be directed at female politicians feels like a further low blow. Whether it's generalising that an entire group of MPs are nothing more than "Blair's Babes" or hearing the Prime Minister dismiss the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Angela Eagle, with the words: "Calm down, dear", female politicians never can quite seem to get on with the task of policy making or legislating or even just walking into Number 10 without being in danger of their gender leading to pernicious commentary. But, as I said, the list of sexist injustices is long and frustrating, so I will keep this fashion.

You only have to read the comments underneath any of the Guardian's fashion articles to know that there is a perceived disparity between how many of our readers feel about fashion: that they like clothes and style is fairly important to them, and how the fashion world, media included, makes them feel: that they are not thin or attractive enough to look good in any clothes.

What the world is desperate for is more fashionistas who want women to feel good about themselves. Something realistic, both in terms of body image and price. In that regard, say what you want about Gok Wan (indeed, I just did), but at least his popularity is based on his non-stop (and often affordable) cheerleading when it comes to women. This is something Portas says important to her too. Let's hope she remembers this mission statement, and leaves the Cabinet to apply their 'wow' factor to running the country, instead.